M ore than 20,000 storm-related claims have been filed this week in Tennessee with the state's biggest insurer, and experts expect that number will grow much higher next week as cleanup continues from Wednesday's tornadoes and wind storms.
State Farm, which insures about one of every four homes in Tennessee, is bringing in additional claims adjusters and expects today to set up temporary inspection facilities in Southeast Tennessee and other hard-hit areas of the state.
"Our first priority is taking care of our customers' needs as quickly as possible," State Farm Vice President Deborah Thompson said Friday.
State Farm said as of midday Friday it had already had received 8,500 claims on homeowner and business policies and another 12,500 auto insurance claims from this week's storms in Tennessee. State Farm spokeswoman Judy McConkey Thompson said 355 Tennessee homes and businesses insured by State Farm were considered uninhabitable structures.
"We are seeing our most severe losses first and will continuing seeing losses in order of severity," she said.
State Farm already has received more than 33,000 claims from Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama combined and company spokesman Justin Tomczak said claims are rolling in.
"Though high, the raw number of claims alone for the region does not fully capture the severity of this storm," he said, "In this case we are seeing many instances where people have lost everything."
Other property insurers did not release claims data Friday about this week's storms, but losses from Wednesday's chaos are likely to be at least in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Since it has only been two days since the tornadoes, right now the companies don't know how many claims have been reported, much less the value of them," said Shannon Ashford, a communications manager for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.
Advice from BBB
The Better Business Bureau advises homeowners with damaged properties to contact their insurance agent and to document damages with photographs and home inventories.
Jim Winsett, president of the Better Business Bureau in Chattanooga, advised homeowners seeking repairs to be wary about signing any contracts too quickly or making deals with door-to-door sales people.
"When these types of storms hit, there are often roofers and other contractors that go door to door in an area and offer to make repairs," Winsett said.
"You should be careful to evaluate who you are hiring and ask around for other bids or other customers of anyone you hire to make sure they do quality work and will fulfill any contract," he added.